If the illegally imported medicine does you harm, the criminals may never be punished

In 2017, health policy experts Camille Guerra and Tim Mackey published the results of an analysis of 100 U.S. prosecutions associated with illegal online pharmacies. They concluded that "current legal tools and regulatory policies do not effectively deter this highly profitable criminal activity. When foreign counterfeiters get caught selling counterfeits to Americans, they get light jail sentences or no jail time at all.

5 counterfeit drug smugglers with easy sentences:

Canadian pharmacist Andrew Strempler sold Americans prescription drugs—some of them counterfeit—that he falsely marketed as Canadian, and avoided an outstanding U.S. warrant by living in Panama. Eventually, Canada asked that he be brought back to respond to it. Once in the U.S., he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison, but only spent two and a half years behind bars.

Gallant Pharma International posed as a legitimate drug wholesaler as they sold smuggled counterfeit and misbranded chemotherapy and cosmetic injectables to doctors, medical practices, and hospitals across the U.S. Indicted by the Justice Department in 2013, 12 members of the conspiracy received a total of 108 months in prison and more than $8 million in fines and forfeitures, but two more individuals have not served any time—they are fugitives believed to be in Canada.

JNS Impex, a Pakistani drug wholesaler, was charged with illegally exporting misbranded and unapproved drugs in 2012, but the U.S. was unable to extradite its co-owners, Junaid and Shehzad Qadir. Eventually, Junaid was picked up while traveling to Germany, where he fought extradition for 17 and a half months. Four years after the original indictment, Junaid Qadir was convicted and sentenced. He only spent four months more in a U.S. prison before being deported back to Pakistan. His brother Shehzad cannot be extradited and is still listed as the owner of JNS Impex.

Despite the companies pleading guilty to orchestrating a multi-year conspiracy to smuggle misbranded prescription pharmaceuticals, including counterfeit Botox, into the U.S., only twopeople indicted in TC Medical Group/SB Medical prosecution received a prison sentence. The companies paid $74 million in fines and forfeitures but four of the six individuals who were indicted for falsifying customs forms, repackaging medications to make them look as if they had been FDA-approved or improperly storing sensitive cold-chain injectable medications walked away with probation.